Lego campaign from JvM based on single internet image?

Here it seems that once again internet research has paid off for a creative team. One of the oldest badlanders we have showed that Southwest airlines campaign used viral webfilms as their funny idea back in 2000, so researching on the web is pretty old-school. We saw the Lego = Minimalist Simpsons image at the design firm Tobias & Tobias blog in a post aptly named Pattern Recognition recently, and now we see it as an ad for lego from Jung von Matt.

No idea where the photograph comes from, nor when it was made, even Tineye.com doesn't know.

It would be fine to use ideas that were generated by other people and found on the net if we start to credit and pay the people for their ideas. Just like we do when we use a song or a photograph. And, if we can't afford the idea then we can't use it.

A friend sent me a link to this page, said it looked like my brother's artwork. He has Wizard of Oz versions posted on his site
( http://web.mac.com/christopherwesthoff/Portfolios/The_Wizard_of_Oz_%26_S... ), but he originally did the Simpsons versions in solid painted blocks back in 2001. Also, creating silk screen prints of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Superman, Batman, etc. I believe Legos were his inspiration and original creation of the minimalist Simpsons. Whether or not these ad companies or the "Lego photographer" sniped the idea is unknown to me, but I figured I'd throw this info out there.